Making Shamrock cookies: you don't "need" a special cookie cutter

Just a reminder, there's a giveaway still going on through Sunday, midnight PST, right over here. It's open to everyone, no restrictions. So hop on over and enter!

I also want to just say a big thanks to everyone who gave me ideas on how to dress myself properly on Tuesday's post. I really appreciate your suggestions. While I can't guarantee that I won't ever slip back into my holey sweats and frayed tee shirts, I am giving more thought to how I dress myself for around the house. This could take me a while -- baby steps!

So, onward and upward, right?!

Being March, with St. Patrick's Day nearly upon us, and having 2 Irish lasses of our own under our roof (my twin daughters' birthday is March 17, so we say they are honorary Irish), just what kind of cookies could I possibly make? Shamrock cookies, of course!

Many people think that gingerbread cookies are just for Christmas. But in our home, gingerbread is an any month sort of cookie. Not too sweet or rich, it's one of my favorites with a hot cup of either tea or coffee. And it's well suited to cutting into fancy shapes. I happen to have a shamrock cookie cutter. But you can make shamrocks or any other shape you desire, without a special cutter.

A few years ago, we were housesitting for my sister in So. California  (I know, rough job in winter, but we like to do our share to help someone out). It was just before Christmas and I wanted to leave her family a treat for their return. I thought to make gingerbread men, but couldn't find a gingerbread man cookie cutter in her kitchen. What to do! What to do! Then I remembered reading Tasha Tudor's Christmas book and how she talked about making gingerbread cookies free-hand. She cut these beautiful animals of all sorts, from her gingerbread dough, using nothing more than a paring knife.

outline of a shamrock -- you can enlarge, as needed,
 and print out to cut and use as a template

I didn't quite trust my free-hand abilities, so I did what I considered the next best thing. I drew and cut out a simple gingerbread man shape from a brown paper shopping bag. This would be my template. I laid this pattern on lightly floured, rolled-out dough (the light dusting of flour keeps the pattern from sticking to the dough). I used a paring knife to cut around the pattern. And voila! Gingerbread men cut-outs ready to bake.

cutting with a small knife is a little slower than using cutters,
but can be a fun activity with the family

So, if you're in the mood to make shamrock (or any other shaped) sugar or gingerbread cookies (any rolled out dough will work as non-perfectly perfect as can be), you can make a template, instead of using a cutter.

I find it easier to cut all my cookies, remove the remaining dough
 that surrounds them, and then lift the cookies

Simply draw or find a picture of a shamrock (enlarge if needed). Cut this out, and use as a template for cutting your cookies. I'll include a photo of our shamrock outline in this post, in case you just want to enlarge and print it out, and use as your template.

I trim any imperfections with a knife and I'm good to go

Older kids could help with the cutting. You could have a couple of templates in use at a time, to speed this up. Younger kids could help with buttering a baking sheet, or lifting cut shamrocks from the counter and onto the baking sheet.

So there you go. Next time you want to make some cookies in a shape that you haven't a cutter for, just draw and cut a template. It's the no-clutter cutter.